CHRIST IN ME

Galatians 2:19, 20  For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

           Paul says it is impossible for a person who has been justified through faith in Christ to return to his old sinful lifestyle.  It is not merely his standing with God that has been changed.  He has been changed!  He has been united with Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit.  He now has new life.  His faith is Christ is a result of the work of God through the Son and the Spirit.

            Paul explains this new life through his own experience.  He describes it in two ways in verses 19, 20.  “I died to the law, so that I might live to God.”  “I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”  This is why Christians cannot continue to live in their sin!  Through faith in the work of Christ we have joined, by faith, in his crucifixion.  Day by day we die to sin and the old way of living.  Every day we die to our pride and our confidence in good works.  We have been united with Christ and through his Spirit he now lives in us, putting sin to death and clothing us with his righteousness.  We are being shaped into the image of Christ through death to sin and new life in Christ.  Our lives are no longer our own to live any way we please.  Christ lives in us and our lives are his to do with as he pleases.  Paul says he lives like this because Jesus “loved me and gave himself for me.”  Christ changes us spiritually.  We no longer desire to live the old way.  He puts a passion for holiness in us.  We are moving in a completely new direction, away from the old life toward God.  By grace through faith he changed us!